Chapter XXV

Forget? no, never--ne'er shall die,
Those names to memory dear;
I read the promise in each eye
That beams upon me here.
Descendants of a twice-recorded race,
Long may ye here your lofty lineage grace;
'Tis not for you home's tender tie
To rend, and brave the waste of waves;
'Tis not for you to rouse and die,
Or yield and live a line of slaves;
The deeds of danger and of death are done:
Upheld by inward power alone,
Unhonoured by the world's loud tongue,
'Tis yours to do unknown,
And then to die unsung.
To other days, to other men belong
The penman's plaudit and the poet's song;
Enough for glory has been wrought,
By you be humbler praises sought;
In peace and truth life's journey run,
And keep unsullied what your Fathers won.